Isn’t the wiretap program just another reincarnation of the “Total Information Awareness” data mining program Admiral Poindexter tried to start in 2002? Congress at the time banned the program from spying on American citizens and Admiral Poindexter was forced to resign. It appears that Bush went ahead with the program anyways. Bush was therefore actively ignoring the will of congress and the courts, not just bypassing them.

The arrogance of this Administration just keeps getting worse and worse.

I just wanted to say to those who believe that things like Abu Ghraib can be covered up that they can't.

During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Russian government tried to keep the casualty rate a secret by using unscheduled trains at night to bring back the dead and wounded. Nevertheless, the Russian people gradually learned enough to get heartily sick of that war.

Did you really think that we wouldn't find out in one way or another what's been going on in Iraq when our veterans started coming home?

The truth will out, and it's better to have an open honest discussion of it now rather than later. After all, we're not like the Soviet Union, are we???

Dear Farhad:

I once felt as you do about John McCain. My respect for him took a bit of a tumble in 2000 when he spoke at Bob Jones university at a time when interracial dating was not allowed. But he apologized for that and said it was all a big mistake on his part.

Then in the 2004 campaign I really lost all interest in him when I saw the tapes of him kissing up to George W. Bush and telling us how great Bush was on National Security.

The bottom line for me is, this man laid his prestige on the line and played a big part in getting Bush reelected and he must therefore share the responsibility for the incompetence and immorality of the Bush regime. Sure McCain can afford to be "hard" on torture. Who cares? His bill is a scrap of paper under this administration. Does anyone really think that the secret prisons and the torture no longer exist?

I mentioned the Bob Jones incident at the beginning of this comment because it is part of McCain's pattern: ultimately, the man has no principles when it comes to getting to the Oval Office. He has kissed up to the extreme right wing of his party over and over again. And he always apologizes afterwards.

I'd also caution about being overly enthusiastic about McCain's qualities as a leader. In the past, McCain has had a tendency to favor military solutions to problems. I think this may be one reason he voted for the Iraq war.

George

Boy, this article sure brought back memories of my own childhood.

I can understand Nina Burleigh's concern about what her child was being taught. My parents were concerned as well.

I was born in the late 1950s and I remember the blind, unconditional love of America I felt as a small boy. My school sounds like it was similar to hers, only maybe even more so. We had a sort of paramilitary outfit called the "Traffic Patrol" that was for the boys only with uniforms and military ranks and even court-martials.

It was the height of the Vietnam war and my friends and I were running around the back yard playing “Army” and pretending to shoot each other. We were all afraid the war would be over before we could join up and play for real and do all the cool things we saw on TV.

My parents tried to some sense into me, much as Nina did with her son. I don’t call that liberal snobbery, I call that an expression of love.

I just thought I'd mention that Colbert hasn't been covered very well in the international press either. Type Colbert into Google's German version News Search and you will get only 22 hits and most of those articles feature Bush's "Me and my Shadow" routine, not Colbert.

Why?

I'd guess that they're just picking up the feed from the US press rather than write their own stuff. Also, Colbert's humor doesn't travel very well. I think you'd have to be force O'Reilly/Hannity/Limbaugh clones for the last six years to really appreciate how funny he is. I'd imagine having some serious problems understanding British political humor myself.

That said, I'm extremely glad he did what he did. Colbert, and satire groups like Billionaires for Bush give us a way to express our anger without being angry.

George

I'm agnostic about claims that Ohio was stolen. The Republican Party certainly seems capable of it. Particularly when you consider that arrogant turd Blackwell was responsible for counting the vote.

But I'm agnostic for two reasons:

a.) Suppose Ohio was counted for Kerry in the 2004 election. Would he have had the popular vote? I think arguing that the Republicans cheated enough to steal that is much more difficult than arguing that they stole enough electoral votes to give the victory to Bush. Would it have been that great to have a president who had won the electoral college but lost the popular vote again?

b.) There are so many issues with much more concrete evidence to nail the Bush Administration on, from the running of the war to the starting it, the environment, the list goes on and on. There are far more effective issues to bring up when arguing with a Republican friend or acquaintance.

Having said that, I do believe we should conduct more effective investigations into this. I don't trust the Democratic investigation much as I have lost faith in the Democratic party establishment. And I don't believe in slamming someone as a Fox operative just because they don't agree with me.

George